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Chelsea will face Real Madrid at the level of the Women’s Champions League.
Emma Hayes, Array’s runners-up in 2021, are drawn in Group D alongside Swedish club SpanishArray BK Hacken and French side Paris FC.
Real Madrid were quarter-finalists in 2022, while Paris FC eliminated last season’s runners-up Arsenal and Wolfsburg in the qualifying rounds.
Chelsea, who reached the semi-finals against champions Barcelona last season, qualified in the first pot as English champions.
They are the remaining British representatives at the festival after Scottish champions Glasgow City were eliminated in the second qualifying round via Brann. Manchester United were also eliminated in the standings through Paris St-Germain, belonging to the same organization as Bayern Munich.
Barcelona, with England internationals Keira Walsh and Lucy Bronze, are in Group A and will face FC Rosengard, Benfica and Eintracht Frankfurt.
The organization phases will run from November 14 to January 31 and the top two organizations in organization will advance to the knockout stages.
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Group A: Barcelona, FC Rosengard, Benfica, Eintracht Frankfurt
Group B: Lyon, Slavia Prague, St Pölten, SK Brann
Group C: Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Roma, Ajax
Group D: Chelsea, Real Madrid, BK Hacken, Paris FC
Much has been made of the current format of qualifying for the Women’s Champions League after English clubs Manchester United and Arsenal, as well as German giants Wolfsburg and Italian side Juventus, were knocked out of this year’s festival ahead of the organisational stages.
In the current format, only the champions of Spain, Germany and France qualify for the organization phase: Chelsea did so this year by default, and Barcelona will already be champions in 2023.
Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor said it was a “shame” to “lose top-level teams” before the organisational phases, while United manager Marc Skinner said it was “crazy” that his side had to face PSG in the second round of qualifying.
However, Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall, whose side lost to Paris FC in this season’s first qualifying round, said English clubs “haven’t done enough in Europe”.
“We are the fourth league in Europe [in the UEFA coefficient rankings],” Eidevall said.
“Why are we number four? Because the English have fared worse than the Spanish, Germans and French in the last five years.
“We can’t say it’s anyone’s challenge, but it’s ours. We want to improve the quality of the league so that when English teams play in Europe, they win their games. “
Arsenal were semi-finalists last season and remain the English team to win the Women’s Champions League.
Meanwhile, United manager Skinner has been criticised for his comments that some games were “a free-kick” to advance to the stages.
He later apologised still for his preference for a wider festival, one in which United were playing for the first time this season after finishing second in the WSL in 2022-23.
“I think there deserves to be more groups and there deserves to be more groups at this festival so we can see where the elite are in Europe,” Skinner said.
“If you want to miss out on the true quality of all the European leagues, then you have to play them against each other, which I think other groups are now in a position to do.
“If you take this step and take it, then congratulations. We’re not here to communicate what it looks like, but they’re here, so congratulations to everyone who’s been there. “
UEFA confirms that the existing one is expected to be in place for at least one more season, before being reviewed in 2025.